Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Eldritch: Lineage 015

Okay, so, this isn’t likely what you’re used to.Aaaand it’s ugly.It’d be cooler if I had the time to really render this well, but, well… it’s not supposed to be pretty.I’ll post the preproduction art for it later.

When I was first jotting down ideas for this sequence, I just had to apply an old concept that fit the situation… you see, if you’ve been around me a looooong time, odds are you may remember this piece:http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=rageful+grahll#/d543m6This was done freaking eight years ago.Now, in the past eight years, I’ve had time to rethink that concept, and exaggerate it.Basically, I’m using this form of uncontrolled, angered change as an excuse to have movie monster werewolves, as opposed to my usual anthropomorphics.

The primary draws of inspiration for this came from An American Werewolf in London (The naked face), Dog Soldiers (the naked body with fluffy legwarmers XD), and Underworld (the sparse body hair seen on William), with a hint of Ginger Snaps for flavor ;3.However, I picked Faith’s traits for several reasons… for one, the paws and face are likely to get the most messy in a battle.You don’t want fur soaked in coagulated blood making your fingers stick together, or getting in your eyes (not to mention getting ikky if the blood starts to rot, as unlikely as that would be).So, like a vulture, these parts of her body are bare.However, she retains fur that’s just as thick or even thicker than normal around her neck, her ankles, and forearms to protect the very vulnerable veins there, working like a lion’s mane. Likewise, the fur on her back protects her should she be clawed at from behind, where she can’t defend herself with her claws as well.The bareness elsewhere… well, frankly, I did it because I liked it, and it mirrors the bad-guys here, but I could say it’s also because fur is insulating, and losing some helps keep her from overheating in a battle situation.

And while that’s all I have to say about Faith’s design here, I’m not done yet.I’d like to also take a moment to discuss Fauvism. Some of you may not know much about it, and that’s okay, neither do I; I imagine Faith knows more of it than I do.However, Fauvism was a brief art movement that is probably best known for its bright colors, and while it was impressionistic, it often retained a sense of realism. However, it’s the brushwork that really is the icing on the cake.Truth be told, I’m not normally a stickler for paint texture and such.But with fauvism, the brushwork is oftentimes energetic, sometimes downright rough… like the artist used the brush to claw paint onto the canvas.Funny thing about that… Fauvism is, after all, the style of “Les Fauves,” which means, “the wild beasts.”Truth is, for a long time, I’ve had a soft spot for Fauvism (though not as much as I do for Art Noveau, particularly the work of Mucha), and when looked at in the context of the derivation of the movement’s name… it seems ever so slightly lycanthropic XD